Price praises Dragons' win over Knights

Ian McCullough

Steve Price brushed aside the significance of a third successive NRL win over former boss Wayne Bennett, preferring to heap praise on his St George Illawarra side after Sunday's 19-16 victory over Newcastle.

The Dragons ran in three tries through Brett Morris, Jason Nightingale and Tyson Frizell to seal a second straight victory and arrest their poor start to the season.

Former NSW five-eighth Jamie Soward kicked two goals and a field goal on the stroke of halftime and produced his best performance of the season in game where he played fullback for the final half-hour following a knee injury to Gerard Beale.

Price has beaten Bennett three times since succeeding the coaching great at the helm of the joint-venture team at the end of 2011.

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"It's not something I get off on," Price said.

"For a guy who has won seven premierships I have the upmost respect for him.

"It's all about putting a good performance in and the boys did that."

Despite criticism heaped on his team earlier in the season, Price always insisted his side were heading in the right direction and said that promise was finally turning into victories.

"I wouldn't say we're on fire but it's very pleasing," he said.

"We're heading in the right direction. The first three weeks we were doing a lot of positive stuff but it's only starting to come out now.

"We backed up a good performance against the Sharks and it's important we keep building off that."

Bennett said he was disappointed by the defeat but not downcast by the performance of his side, who lost their last away game 32-0 to Manly in round three.

The Knights were vastly improved in the second half, having failed to trouble the scorers in the first, with Darius Boyd and Timana Tahu going over and Akuila Uate adding a late four-pointer in the final seconds.

"We ran out of time today," Bennett said.

"We were beaten by a really good team and we were really good ourselves. It happens, that's footy.

"That's where we want to be. That's the way we want to be playing. We'll win more than we lose."

Bennett also defended his former club and said criticism of their performances and coach had been unfair.

"If I listen to you guys (in the media) they were playing pretty poor but I don't listen to you," he said.

"They were putting a lot of effort in. You are quick to criticise after losing a couple of games but it's the quality and how you lose.

"They were trying their hearts out and it just wasn't coming off for them."